Lear's decision to divide his kingdom is dependant only on the level of flattery his daughters show before him. Due to the lack of flaunting Cordelia displays, Lear banishes her as he proclaims, "... for we/ Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see/ That face of her again. Therefore be gone/ Without our grace, our love, our benison" (I.I.265-267). Lear is easily mislead by the false praise his two eldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, give him and is unable to see Cordelia's true loyalty. In the intensity of his wrath, Lear feels that what he is doing is right though in actuality, he fails to see that his ignorance has brought him to powerless position.
The effect of ignorance of seeing the truth can be seen when Teiresias tells Oedipus, “You with your precious eyes, / you 're blind to the corruption of your own life” (470-471). Sophocles uses situational irony in this quote as even Teiresias, a true blind from birth, can see that Oedipus is blind to his own life. This shows the reader how deeply lost Oedipus is in his own blindness. In the play the main cause of this blindness is hubris. Teiresias is physically blind but one would consider Oedipus eyeless as he can’t see the true power of god and thinks of himself as an immortal.
“If I changed my mind and asked for a bigger fancier kite, Baba would buy it for me - but then he’d buy it for Hassan too. Sometimes I’d wished he wouldn’t do that. Wish’d he’d let me be the favourite.”, yearning for superiority, when knowing that he doesn’t deserve it only fattens the bear that he fights. Jealousy is Amirs god given peril, for that he might never be as good as his Hazara servant. Granted, Amir never admits openly to being at ease with his self loathing, yet being granted redemption, even after centuries have passed, would strip Amir of his essence.
The only reason Edmund finds himself in Narnia is because he followed his little sister who went into the wardrobe. His goal was not to find a place to hide, but only to tease her, which shows how spiteful Edmund can be. When he finally enters into the world of Narnia, he does not feel guilty for making fun of his sister, but blames her for leaving him on his own in this new world. He does not take responsibilities for his actions and he is happy to blame anyone but himself. He shows arrogance and pride.
The text then takes a deeper dive into some of the different ways people end up missing this information and the underlying issues, which can cause these misses. One of the first concepts, which is discussed, is inattentional blindness. Inattentional blindness occurs when we miss something that should be extremely evident and there is no rational explanation as to how it was missed. “We find failure to see the obvious so remarkable because it violates common assumptions about our visual awareness. This phenomenon has captured the interest of cognitive and perceptual psychologists and has become known as inattentional blindness” (Bazerman 65).
According to Shakespeare (ii.i 292-295) “Here, Claudio, I have wooed in thy name, and fair Hero is won. I have broke with her father and his goodwill obtained. Name the day of marriage, and God give thee joy.” This quote shows that Don Pedro is the one who helped Claudio to apparently win Hero’s heart. Claudio couldn’t do it himself because he is immature like a kid. Last but not least, they didn’t communicate with each other.
Some would argue that all these character traits could fall under hubris or selfishness. Perhaps the belief in the witches is because he wants to believe what will better him, and maybe he is superstitious so he can have even a shred of dignity after achieving what was prophesied by the witches. However, in order to be considered tragic Macbeth would have to be defined by one single undeniable flaw. Even if he was given a flaw such as hubris, he has been so undeniably stupid and possibly insane throughout the play. After viewing ghosts and floating daggers, one would believe that the mental disorders within Macbeth go far beyond an oversized ego.
In a women’s clothes, I cannot help but be reminded of the lustful affair that the clothes bring me”(Coetzee,118). Love can make anyone do anything, no matter how crazy. The old man took a trip to the forbidden land just to show his love for the young girl. In the end, he failed to win over her love and paid the consequence when returning to the inn. By thinking of her while enduring the torture, he is trying to convince himself it was worth it, even though we all know she never cared for him like he cared for her.
His view on showing love is expressing it through words, so when Cordelia fails in her declaration of love, Lear sees this fail as a lack of love and ungratefulness, especially when he decides to give the entire kingdom to his daughters. The fact that Lear has good intentions to begin with, prompts the reader to forgive him easier. Regan and Goneril on the
True colors are revealed when strong emotions are involved. It can cause a person who did not have bad intentions at first to develop them overtime. Iago’s peak of jealousy arrives in act four, when Iago tries to convince Othello, Desdemona and Cassio are having an affair. Or to be naked with her friend in bed An hour or more, not meaning any harm? (Shakespeare 4.1.4) Othello feeds into Iago’s lies because he views Iago as his honest brother.